If you’re one of the estimated 11 million homeowners burdened with an underwater mortgage, a new federal policy change could be good news: Starting in June, when you want to do a short sale to shed your mortgage debt load and avoid foreclosure, you may not have to wait for months to hear back from your bank when you submit an offer from a potential purchaser. [more]

What’s behind the unusually high rate of contract cancellations and settlement delays in the real estate market? With signs of recovery emerging in many parts of the country, shouldn’t deals be zipping along with minimal complications?

Apparently not. Nearly one-third of real estate agents in a new national survey reported experiencing contract cancellations — purchases crumbling before going to closing — in February. [more]

Florida has more loans that are one year or more delinquent than any state in the U.S. but California, according to a new report by the Federal Home Finance Agency. There are a total of 166,000 Florida loans more than one year delinquent, out of 292,000 delinquent loans backed by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the Palm Beach Post reported. California has 174,000 loans that are delinquent by a year or more. [Palm Beach Post]

The Obama administration’s new plan to stimulate refinancings of Federal Housing Administration mortgages is likely to help large numbers of homeowners cut their monthly costs — even those who are deeply underwater. But it’s also likely to be a disappointment to many borrowers who aren’t aware of the program’s fine print and end up missing an opportunity to switch into a loan with a rate below 4 percent. [more]

Fannie Mae is asking the federal government to close a $4.57 billion gap in its budget, Yahoo News and other outlets reported.

Fannie Mae lost $2.41 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011, due to declining home prices, the government-sponsored enterprise said in an announcement today. [more]

Fannie Mae has begun the first phase of an initiative to fix the U.S. housing market wherein it will sell foreclosed properties to investors, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency released the details of the program today, including that investors will have to buy the properties in bulk and be required to rent them out, the Journal said. [more]

From left: Jonathan Plutzik, wife Lesley Goldwasser and their townhouse at 312 102nd Street

Fannie Mae is frequently involved in residential property deals, but usually not in such a direct way.

The sellers of an Upper West Side townhouse that made the list of the most expensive deals of last week, is Jonathan Plutzik, who sits on the board of directors of the government-sponsored mortgage giant, and Lesley Goldwasser, his wife and business partner in various ventures, The Real Deal has learned. [more]

The Federal Housing Finance Agency has proposed replacing the mortgage-backed securities that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac currently issue with a uniform security in a strategic plan it sent to Congress and the Obama administration, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The switch would mark a major change for both companies, and according to the FHFA paper, would be a public utility that could outlast the government-sponsored enterprises.  [more]

Nye Lavalle

When home prices were still booming earlier this decade, the foreclosure scandals that dominate the headlines today could have been averted had Fannie Mae paid more attention to one foreclosed homeowner, according to the New York Times.

Nye Lavalle, a well-to-do business professional, was preparing to pay off the $100,000 balance in 1988 on a loan he took out for a home in Dallas, Texas. But Lavalle found discrepancies in the paperwork that inflated his bill by $18,000. He refused to pay his loan servicer, and endured a long, and ultimately unsuccessful, legal process to fight the charges. In 1995 he lost the home. [more]

If you or someone you know has lost a job and are in danger of falling behind on mortgage payments, here’s some potentially important news for you: The two largest players in home mortgages, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are revising their policies on forbearance when unemployment interferes with your ability to stay current on your loan. [more]